Turkey Warns Germany Against Armenian Genocide Recognition

Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bundestag (Source: ArmRadio)

BERLIN (ArmRadio)—On May 9, Turkey called on German lawmakers to “act reasonably” when considering a bill next month on recognizing the deaths of Armenians in 1915 as genocide.

Tanju Bilgic, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Ankara had been following the preparation of the resolution and its “politicizing” of history, Anadolu Agency reports.

“It is possible that if the resolution is approved, Turks living in Germany and Turkey will react seriously,” Bilgic said at a conference in Ankara. “In this framework, we expect the German parliament to act in common sense and reasonably.”

On May 6, German lawmaker Albert Weiler announced in Armenia that the Bundestag would consider a resolution on recognizing the events of 1915 as genocide on June 2.

In 2015, German parliamentary parties approved the resolution on principle, but sent it back to the committee for further work.

“These [politicians] are further complicating the issue,” Bilgic said. “Genocide is not an issue that can be abused with political aims.”

He reiterated Turkey’s call to establish a joint commission to investigate the killings.

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4 Comments

It is very annoying that Turkey pretends that they really don’t know if it happened or not. They play innocent. How can such a political violent action as purposely killing that many people be unknown. It didn’t happen centuries ago, just 100 years, it wasn’t 1 or 2 persons, it was 1.5 million. Are you kidding? They decided to investigate the killings. And after their false and fake “investigation” they will come up with fake results with still denying the genocide.

A) This particular Turk calls Germans to act reasonably. This is an anecdote.
I. Kant, A. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche serve to German Parliament as reference for acting reasonably. For instance, “All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason. I. Kant”
B) This particular Turk – Foreign Ministry spokesman(!), calls a genocide an “issue”. Then what kind of human-produced-mass killing has higher ranking in this office vocabulary?
C) Recently, Turkish government openly uses tactics of blackmailing: “It is possible that if the resolution is approved, Turks living in Germany and Turkey will react seriously” . So, just i) because of the “possibility”, the German Parliament should fail to act in spirit of its spiritual leaders mentioned in A); ii) “Turks … will react seriously”, meaning pogroms will take place? So, this particular Turk assumes that his compatriots start pogroms when getting serious?

I hope Germany will show a stance deserving its genius founding sons and daughters. I am sure that June 2 is a testing for this nation, in a first place. I doubt, however, that Germany of today has the society that its great founders tried to shape. Judge yourself – somebody as low educated and spirited as this spokesman finds air in his lungs to “challenge” the lawmakers of the German Parliament. This speaks a deal about Germany’s image.

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